Busy week

We had an interesting weekend of racing. Saturday's course was at a private farm outside of Walla Walla, with the race taking place in the late afternoon. The course had some tricky singletrack, a barn filled with saw dust and Halloween decorations, a 12 foot high A-Frame ramp, and a bridge. While the course was unique, I wouldn't say it was a true cyclocross course.

I started my race and rode the first few laps at race pace. My back started to feel a little tight, so I backed way off and was passed by all the women behind me. I just finished the race, worried that my back would tighten up through the evening. Upon crossing the line, I noticed that Ted was already by the car. He was distraught because he had run over a little girl. The little girl somehow ran onto the course, directly in front of Ted. By the time he saw her, it was too late to completely avoid her, so both he and the girl went down. Ted felt awful, as did the girl's parents. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt - just shaken up. It was just one of those freak things, and a complete accident. Ted didn't finish because he wanted to make sure the girl was okay. We had a great dinner that evening, so that helped!

My back was really no worse yesterday morning, so I decided to really race full-out. I somewhat regret not racing harder on Saturday because I think I probably could have. I was just being overly cautious. I went hard from the gun yesterday and held the lead until the finish. It was cool because Mara Abbott, the current professional women's road race champion, showed up for both races. Chances are good that I'll never be able to beat her on the road, but at least I was able to beat her in a 'cross race. Ha!

Ted's racing didn't go much better yesterday, as he crashed a couple times. He's hoping for a better weekend here soon because he's really had some bad luck.

This week is going to be busy for us. I started my new part-time lab position today, which is very chemistry-based. We are going to a Modest Mouse concert on Halloween and Ted's parents are coming for a visit Friday. Throw in cyclocross practice and other daily workouts, along with a few miscellaneous appointments, and it's going to be pretty packed. Most of it's fun, though!